"red velvet" news and stories

I'm fascinated by traditional recipes that get passed down from one generation to the next. Red velvet cake is one of those recipes. The moist, rich cake is historically made with lots of red artificial food coloring and topped with delicious, but highly caloric cream-cheese frosting. I love the idea of updating it in the form of a healthier, mini-cheesecake.

I've used canned beets to achieve the red velvet color and reduced-fat cream cheese and sour cream to cut the richness. These make great one-bite wonders for Valentine's Day, or any time you want to entertain.

Find the recipe for these lite delights after the jump.

When my dear friend Yukari brought my red velvet cake the other afternoon, I thought I must have died and gone to some sort of sugar-baked heaven. I asked her where she discovered this bizarre, deep red, Satanic looking concoction. Apparently it's all over Brooklyn, and she'd found out about it while working in the Buttacup Lounge.

For the unfamiliar, red velvet cake is party punch red and coated in thick white frosting. It's an equally decadent relative of chocolate cake. My own limited run-ins with it haven't yielded particularly chocolatey tasting encounters, but its richness and snowy cream cheese dressing could satisfy any chocolate lover's deepest desire.

A sort of red-velvet-legend attributes this cake to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. A guest ordered a slice and liked it so much that she asked for the recipe. The hotel gave it up and billed her $100. Furious, she spread the recipe around in chain letters.

The response to the photos of the Red Velvet Tie-Dyed Cheesecake from Walt Disney's Pop Century Resort was unanimous: we want the recipe! Short of tracking down the pastry chef and begging, getting the exact recipe might be a challenge. Fortunately, the components of the recipe are simple. It has a red velvet cake layer at the bottom instead of a more traditional crust and once it has been baked, the cake is topped with a cheesecake mixture and baked again. The colors in the cake are all produced with food coloring, including the red velvet cake layer. The best way to start here is by using a boxed cake mix, but if you cannot find a red velvet cake mix, buy a white cake mix and add 1 ounce (1 bottle) of red food coloring to it. It is sure to be a hit at any child's party and will probably be very popular at a party for grown-ups, too. Here is the recipe: